Thames Coastguard requested the Whitstable Lifeboat to launch following a report of an unoccupied canoe drifting off Leysdown. Sheppey Coastguard had the craft visual from Warden Point, and guided the lifeboat to its location.

An RAF Sea King helicopter,  from Wattisham Airfield in Suffolk, had also been tasked, and commenced a search in conjunction with the lifeboat.

Once the area had been thoroughly searched, and Thames Coastguard were happy that no one was in the water, the lifeboat recovered the canoe, and landed it ashore back at the boathouse.